Leo Li stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, according to the Drake Abyss Legal Code, anyone who even intends to harm His Majesty the Celestial Emperor is to be sentenced to death! I will escort him to the Execution Platform for immediate execution!"
"Hold on!" The Celestial Emperor looked at the Demon Beast in human form and asked, "What is your name?"
The Demon Beast’s eyes were filled with hostility and hatred as he replied, "You don’t even know my name, so why are you hunting me so relentlessly? Did I kill your father or steal your wife?"
"How dare you act so brazen before His Majesty!" Leo Li gripped the hilt of his sword, ready to strike him.
"Leo Li." The Celestial Emperor waved his hand, then said to the Demon Beast, "You’re surprisingly down-to-earth! You seem pretty human—like you can actually reason. Am I right?"
The Demon Beast sneered, "Reason? I didn’t know that word even existed for you high-and-mighty Divine Race types."
"I swear on my name as Celestial Emperor, Drake Abyss is more reasonable than anywhere else!" the Emperor said. "The reason I hunted you—well, not hunted to kill, I sent Divine Soldiers to capture you—is because you burned down a city and caused tens of thousands of deaths! You have to admit that, right?"
"Burned down the city…" The Demon Beast suddenly pointed to a young boy below. "He did it! Not me!"
The one he pointed at was none other than Leo Li’s son, Liam Li!
The Celestial Emperor was stunned. "What? Him?"
"That's right!" said the Demon Beast.
"Huh? What's going on here?" The Celestial Emperor asked Leo Li.
Leo Li kept his composure and bowed, saying, "How could that be possible? The Demon Beast is obviously cunning—he must be lying."
The Celestial Emperor nodded, then said to the Demon Beast, "You were seen flying above that city. All the local people saw you—everyone witnessed it! Now you claim Liam Li destroyed the city. Do you have any evidence? If you do, I’ll release you and drop the charge of attempted regicide. How about that?"
Upon hearing this, the Demon Beast tore open his own clothes and said, "This is the evidence!"
His entire body was covered in wounds.
The scars were horrifying to behold.
It looked like he’d been whipped by something barbed, with chunks of flesh torn away.
"I was minding my own business at Clearwind Gorge when Liam Li tried to make me his personal Demon Beast! When I refused, he tortured me. Look at my wounds—aren’t they all from his weapon, the Bone-Shaver Whip?" the Demon Beast said.
"Hmm... Those wounds really do look like they were caused by the Bone-Shaver Whip." The Celestial Emperor turned to Liam Li. "Liam, what happened?"
Liam Li put on an exaggeratedly indignant face. "Your Majesty the Celestial Emperor, I fought him to stop the city massacre. Now he’s blaming me for destroying the city? I’m speechless!"
Lucia Lu frowned as she looked at the boy.
He looked bright and clever, but could lie without even blinking...
"Hmm..." The Celestial Emperor asked the Demon Beast again, "Do you have any other evidence?"
The Demon Beast replied angrily, "Facts are facts! What more evidence do you want? You keep saying Drake Abyss is the fairest place, but you’re obviously protecting him!"
"Facts are facts, sure," said the Celestial Emperor. "But right now, only the two of you know what really happened—no one else does. With both sides telling different stories, how am I supposed to judge?"
The Demon Beast’s face flushed with rage. "You’re the Celestial Emperor and you’re asking me? If you’re this useless, why are you even Emperor?"
"How dare you!" Leo Li tried to strike him again.
The Celestial Emperor stopped him again and said, "You seem to have some misconceptions about the Celestial Emperor! Honestly, the Emperor is just a person—not some all-knowing being who understands everything under heaven."
The Demon Beast shot him a look of pure contempt, but couldn’t offer any more evidence.